The Menagerie

Week 1 Series Novel:
The Menagerie 
Written By: 
Tui T. Sutherland and Kari Sutherland
Published: 2013

The Menagerie is the first book in a trilogy centered around a sixth grade boy named Logan and his discovery of The Menagerie, which is a protection center for mythical creatures. The book has a bit of a choppy start. It took me a good 150 pages before I found myself actually enjoying and fully experiencing the story. The premise of this particular book is Logan and his two new friends Zoe, daughter of the owners of The Menagerie, and Blue, a merfolk (don't you dare call him a merman!!) are tearing through Xanadu, Wyoming to locate the six griffin cubs that have escaped from the protection center. Along the way, we learn a lot about all of the different creatures that take up residence at The Menagerie. This graphic really helped me with coming up with a better idea as to what these creatures looked like and how they might move or interact with each other. 

While the writing in this book did not really live up to the other children's novels I have read recently, the Sutherland sisters did an excellent job crafting a plot full of exciting twists and turns. Just when I thought I had everything figured out, there would be another aspect to the mystery to try and solve. I think this novel would be best saved for a fun read aloud, a mentor text, or a pleasure book recommendation rather than being used for a lesson. I am hoping to get around to the other two books in the series at some point this year. I give this book three stars.